Glimmer
Authors: Anya Monroe
glimmer
book two of
THE SHINE ON TRILOGY
by anya monroe
Copyright @2015 by Anya Monroe
All rights reserved
This edition published by arrangement with
The Lovely Messy
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, either living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
CHAPTER ONE
By the time we reach land the world has grown completely dark. The sun set far beneath the water's edge hours ago and all that is left is black sky with the sliver of a crescent moon.
Using the light emitting from my hand as a guide, I lead us to shore. My light fills the small vessel, but it doesn't reach much further than that. Next to me Timid grips the edge of the boat, her senses working overtime as she, for the first time, hears the lapping water against the boat, the heavy hush of dark.
I listen closely as well, hearing seals dive as they call out to one another, sounds I'm hearing for the first time in my life too. Unexpected laughter escapes my throat as I hear them bark. I went from compound-living to The Light-living.
All I know of life is being on lock down.
Now that I'm in the wild, on the brink of the freedom I was so desperate for, the cost I've paid feels too high. Mom is dead, not even twenty-four hours from her final breath. Lukas, my Nobleman, is not by my side either. I had to leave, and fast. It was my only chance to escape The Light and now I must be strong. Strong like I promised Mom I would be.
Strong for Timid. Strong for myself.
"It's going to be okay," I whisper, in a lame attempt to reassure her. Being a caregiver is not my first, or even my second nature. For Timid, I must stretch my boundaries. I must be more than I know how to be.
Distant cries echo across the Sound and I turn my body around in the boat, towards the Refuge we just escaped. Reverberating screams bounce off the water, leaping into my heart.
Lukas.
"Do you think someone caught him, knows about us?" Timid asks. I hold my light up to her, and see the panic spread thin across her young face. The screaming is definite.
"Shh ... shh ... I'm sure he's fine. He won't do anything foolish." The words are meant to calm her, but in my heart I don't know if my words are true. Humblemen could be chasing us right now, or worse--doing something to Lukas. If they hurt him, all this is for nothing. We are escaping to find his family, to bring him help. If we are stopped, we'll never find a way to free Lukas. This has to work.
I look back in the direction of the Refuge, wishing there had been some other way. That Lukas could be in the boat with us. All I wanted was to find freedom with him and now our reckless plan leaves him behind in the hands of my enemies.
Once the shouting dissipates in the distance, I hold Timid's hand with my right, wanting her to calm down. I lift my left arm ahead of us to light the way, guiding the boat. I offer words of love to Lukas,
"
Stay strong. Don't let them win
."
My whispers don't stretch as far as I wish. If my words can't reach him, they are at least steadying me. Mom lost her life to The Light already, I can't lose another person I love.
The ride across the water takes over an hour. My heart aches as I pull the boat to the same dock I walked across with Mom, when we turned our lives over to The Light. If only we knew how much we were handing them when we said “Yes, we commit mind, body, soul
.”
I never imagined those words would mean Mom's life.
The dock is quiet; and the fears I had about Humblemen being on our tails, searching for Timid and I, haven't materialized. My heart beats faster, and my ears strain in search of noise, but no one is around.
The night is completely still, the water hitting the shore is the only noise, and somehow that steady sound still calms. We clumsily navigate exiting the little boat, but we are new to this … being outside, being in the wild. I'm the one who loses my balance as I try to get out, and my leg catches on the rim. Timid grabs my hand to help give me balance. My eyes offer her thanks, and I'm grateful I'm not doing this alone.
"Timid, we're going to head straight up this hill, okay? But I need you to stay quiet, we need to stay hidden." I lift my hand up so we can see the path dug into the side of the earth, leading us away from the frigid water and rocky shore.
This path has probably been used for a hundred years or more, and we can make our way up it without light, I'm sure of it. The zig-zags are carved deep, with plenty of space for us to summit the forty-foot hill that will lead us to flat land.
Beyond that, the
Safe House
Charlie told me about.
I wish the night sky was littered with stars and a low hanging, swollen moon. It would help us navigate right now, but I can't do this next part holding onto wishes. They've never gotten me anywhere.
I clench my fist hoping it extinguishes my light. If we can avoid using it, I want to. Even though it appears we're alone, I don't want to be naïve. Threats to our survival could be hiding anywhere.
Timid nods her head, and silently watches as I tie the boat to the pier. Now, with the boat motor off, I hear night sounds more clearly, and my heart pumps faster with each hoot and distant animal cry. Timid's fingers find mine once more and with hands held tight, we run up the hill.
I wish Lukas was here. I would ask, “Which way should we go?
”
and “What do I do now?
”
But he isn't and Timid is relying on me to make choices for us both. Choices that will deliver us to the Safe House.
Once we crest the hill, I turn around and look straight back toward the Refuge, toward Lukas. Somehow his plan worked, and we were able to reach dry land. We've been delivered to the outside world, away from the Councilmen and their manipulation.
Timid and I stand silently, and my thoughts move quickly from thankfulness to fear. We are two girls wearing silk robes in the cold night air, no food, no coats, and no protection from the elements or the people who may be lurking around the corner.
Someone could have heard the motor of the boat and already be looking for us, ready to take us as prisoners, or worse. I remember what the thugs did to Mom the first chance they got. The ache in my chest returns, never gone for long. The task before us will not be easy.
"What do we do now, Lucy?" Timid looks at me with her hopeful wide eyes, her brown locks swirling around her as the wind picks up. Her carefully plaited hair now free, just like me. "What next?" she asks again.
My mind goes straight back to Mom, and I wonder if it will always be this way. Will my mind always return to the person who determined my every move for so long? I don't feel ready to make decisions for myself, even though it's all I wanted.
The weight of making the right or wrong choice is heavier than I knew they would be and a fresh wave of guilt washes over me. I was so hard on Mom's decisions; naive to the burden she bore for me. My stomach rolls with the knowledge that these memories are going to keep finding their way to the surface, probably forever.
I remember asking Mom the same question Timid asks me now
. “
What is the plan?
”
I wonder if Mom had doubts, question marks in the blanks of our future. When I asked her what was next did she pause between knowing and not knowing? The in-between of “I hope this works
”
and “I have no other choice
,”
because I have those blanks right now. I am suddenly the guardian of a nine-year-old girl.
Yet I have no real way of protecting her.
Calming her fears is my priority, just like I'm sure Mom tried to do for me. Maybe it's wrong to think this way, but I hope I can do better than Mom because being left in the dark for sixteen years prepared me for nothing.
I hold Timid's hand firmly as I answer, "We're going to walk a little longer tonight. We need to go just a few miles to get to the Safe House
,
and then we will be warm, I promise." I tell her this with a gentle confidence, knowing my voice doesn't reflect how I feel. I have no idea if we can find the
Safe House
, or Charlie. The best I can do is hope for a clear path.
"How far is a mile Lucy?" Timid asks. I forget how alike her and I are, both newly minted to the outside world. I've had little experience being outside without protective gear but luckily I've read plenty of books on distance and time.
Accounting for our lack of shoes and coats, I approximate, "Less than a half hour. We can do that, together."
I start in the direction I remember Charlie pointing toward, walking on a paved road, hoping it delivers us where we need to go. Head west, he'd said.
I can do that.
The night chill reaches my core and Timid shivers beside me.
"And think of the light," I say. "The light the Nobleman gives us. Thinking of that will help keep you warm, a little bit at least."
Timid nods, squeezing my hand tighter, and warmth runs through me as she does. Her hand warms too, and I know she is no longer as cold as she once was.
I have faith that we're going to be okay. I promised Lukas I wouldn't lose faith.
Not in him.
Not in us.
Standing on the ledge, watching the girl I love disappear in the dark of the night, I scream. I scream as loud as I've always wanted but been too scared to try. I scream as long as I can, until my lungs are empty of sound and there is nothing left. Throwing my hands over my eyes, I blind myself from the truth I can't see.
Her.
The girl who has undone me yet remade me and is somehow completely and utterly gone.
I'm the one who told Lucy to go. She needed to. We had no other choice. I must stay and help the people here until I can figure out a way for them to survive without me. There will be a way for me to escape, sooner than later. Lucy is doing her part, and I will do mine.
Get to Refuge Two.
Find Basil and Grace.
Then somehow, someway, find my way back to the girl I love.
Repeating the plan again, I have a feeling it will be my new mantra, propelling me forward.
The screams of the chaos on the floor below me, echo toward me. Vessels and Humblemen run throughout the Refuge desperate for answers. Desperate for me to fix everything for them. Desperate for light to come back on.
I'm tired of being everyone else's puppet on parade. Even though part of me wants to fling over the ledge, crawl down to the shore, and swim across the Sound towards Lucy, I know I can't.
I can't afford to be tired. Right now I have to be the person Lucy counts on. I can do this next part for her. And the next. And the next. Until I can pull her close, kaleidoscope trails of our light surrounding us. Then I will kiss her lips and hold her face and never let her go again.
Indulging in one last look at the water, I vow to do whatever it takes to make my way across the Sound and find her. The night sky holds only a sliver of a moon and I hope beyond hope that it guides Lucy to safety.
Slipping in through the window the cries of the Vessels below grow more urgent. Darkness brings a fear to the Vessels even I don't fully know. I never would have understood even the slightest until a week ago when the Councilmen showed me the dark rooms in an effort to manipulate me.
Shame seeps through me, I've been blinded my whole life, though I am their light-bearing prophet. Never knowing what was truly happening at the Refuges I power.
I wind my way down the stairs, a tremble coursing through my veins as I push open the door dividing my past from my future. Once opened, I feel my light shining brighter than it has in a long time. The dark spaces in the vast hallway are filled with my glow.
At the sight of me, Vessels stop, no longer pressing their hands against the walls for direction. These women must have been covered with desperation, terrified of the dark being thrust upon them, just like they've experienced in the dark rooms.
A small girl huddles with a young boy against the wall by the door I just opened. My heart sinks, remembering Hanna-Grace, now taken from this Refuge. I must do everything in my power to get her away from Refuge Two and make the wrongs the Humblemen made, right.
The weight is heavier now that I'm forced to carry it without Lucy. She's the only person I've ever shared any of myself with, but now I'm forced to bear it alone, again.
"Nobleman, you're here." Councilman Discernment's hand grips my wrist, urging me to follow. "You must make your way to the Energy Room -- there's no time to waste!"
"Of course." Masking what I know, I ask, "How did this happen?" The truth is my kiss against Lucy's lips broke a fuse in the system.
It was worth it.
"I don't know exactly. We'll discuss it after we have the Refuge sourced once more."
I know my way around these corridors, and we turn right into the stairwell leading to the Energy Room. The room where I spend my nights strapped to a chair, replenishing the Refuge as I deplete myself.
Just thinking of the night ahead, my body weakens. With the Refuge being as dim as it is now, I know my life force will be drained by morning.
With my light shining, it's easy to make our way to the room through the darkened corridors, a horde of Vessels following behind. Of course they are, where I go, there is Light. Both a gift and a curse. They feel safe when I'm near, but what would they think if they knew my true desires?